iPhone 8 to feature new way to invoke Siri—plus many more functions

You can invoke Siri with a catchphrase, and you can also type to the digital assistant in iOS 11. Now, with the iPhone 8’s arrival, Apple will reportedly introduce yet another way to interact with Siri.

According to developer Guilherme Rambo, references in the HomePod software suggests Apple will allow iPhone 8 users to invoke Siri by holding the sleep/wake button. Seeing as the device won’t have a home button, it makes sense for Apple to introduce an alternative solution.

The sleep/wake button might do much more beyond invoking Siri, too. 9to5Mac suggests lines of code points to the possibility of the sleep/wake button being dynamic depending on the app that’s being used.

In fact, there’s a possibility there may actually be two buttons housed within the sleep/wake button, which looks larger in the dummy units that have been floating around.

Based on the information that’s available, it sounds like the iPhone 8’s sleep/wake button will perform quite a few functions, not least of which will be invoking Siri. If true, it’ll be much more dynamic than Samsung’s Bixby button, which is tied exclusively to the Korean company’s digital assistant.

It initially looked like the biggest changes coming to the iPhone 8 involved the edge-to-edge display and all-glass design. But it sounds like there’s much more to it, including a software bar and the sleep/wake button’s expanded functionality.